LionDrover RC zebra replicates the thrill of the hunt

Back before we got this cushy blogger gig, we were looking into a rewarding career as lion bait. Good thing we didn't go ahead with that, since we hear the mortality rate isn't exactly top-rate, and now it looks like we'd be having our jobs replaced by a few infernal robots anyways. Some students over at Strathclyde University in the UK have developed an RC "LionDrover" vehicle that can hit speeds up to 30 MPH and is designed to give bored, captive lions the thrill of the chase. To heighten the realism -- last time we checked, most lions don't chase small 4-wheeled vehicles with hunks of meat tied on top in the wild -- the little vehicle sports some sweet zebra stripes. The LionDrover is a successor to the Lionrover, which has been around for a couple of years, and apparently a new version is in the works, too. Currently the bot is being tested out at Blair Drummond Safari Park, and should be joined soon by six similarly-fated companions once the funding is procured. There will also be versions for wolves and African wild dogs -- sounds like these are glorious days indeed to be a captive carnivore.

[Via MobileWhack]

[Chocolate Starfish @ Oct 16th 2006 1:36PM]

Something tells me those lions are longing for the good old days, when meat magically showed up in a pile twice a day.

On another note, lets take a second RC-bot, paint it like a lion and let the lion-bot chase the zebra-bot around the zoo. Your spoiled kids will never know the difference (that is, if they look up from their DSes long enough to see), and the real lions can stay in nature.

[Chocolate Starfish @ Oct 16th 2006 1:38PM]

Oh. I just had a better idea. Lets strap the meat to those same kids and see how much more fun we all have.

[Franklin @ Oct 16th 2006 1:47PM]

just thought this was cool

[Seamus Bartlett @ Oct 16th 2006 1:55PM]

Cynical much, Mr. Starfish?

This makes me wonder if this will make captive predators a bit more agressive. There's always the assumption that, while captive lions are obvioulsy lions---they never seem quite as hostile as ones in the wild. But if they get used to hunting again and enjoying the chase (which, by all means, is a noble pursuit), I wonder if more "animal attacks trainer/zoo keeper" cases will pop up.

Just a thought.

[Wonderboy @ Oct 16th 2006 2:13PM]

In 50 years when the robots have taken over, there will be a post on "EnHuman" that reads:


Back before we got the ability to think for ourselves, we were scientific fodder for human-controlled carnivore entertainment. Good thing we evolved and took over, cause now it looks like we've found a way to get back at the humans by having that job taken over by a few mindless humans. Some fellow-robots over at Strathclyde Factory in Sector 362 have developed an RC "BotDrover" human that can hit speeds up to 20 MPH (at full sprint) and is designed to give bored, out-moded robots the thrill of the historic "Doomsday" chase. To heighten the realism the little humans sport some harmless BB guns (we don't want an uprising, do we now). The BotDrover is a successor to the Botrover, which has been around for a couple of years, and apparently a new version is in the works, too. Currently the human is being tested out at Blair Drummond Safari Park, and should be joined soon by six similarly-fated companions once the humans reach optimal age/sprinting ability. There will also be versions of midgets (for the slow-bots) and Olympians (descendants of famous high-speed runners, for a tougher chase). Let the Doomsday celebration begin.

[Dignan17 @ Oct 16th 2006 2:31PM]

I've always thought that a miniature version of this would be a great cat toy for indoor cats who don't get to chase things around as much. I know that my 20 year old cat used to love when crickets would get in the basement in the fall because it was a hunting challenge.

[Quiwi @ Oct 16th 2006 4:59PM]

Well other than using a laser pointer, I've used one of those miniature rc cars (the ones that are about an inch in size) and our cat goes crazy ^.^

[Chris Heinzmann @ Oct 16th 2006 3:30PM]

The Phoenix Zoo does something similar for the Cheetahs where they have a cable on a winch that they pull a target through the enclosure around some trees at high speed those cats love it you see them get up and wait for it.

[Vrykoul @ Oct 16th 2006 7:41PM]

I need one of those for my greyhound! He'd go nuts over something like that.

[Mark Jones @ Nov 3rd 2006 1:59PM]

Hey, been searching for LionDrover hits on google and came across this blog, if you guys liked the project then you can see more photos and videos of all the projects on my website www.lionrover.co.uk cheers